Download Defining and Indentifying Psychological Disordeers

Defining and Indentifying
Psychological Disordeers
DSM IV
• The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders (DSM) is published by the
American Psychiatric Association
– provides a common language and standard criteria
for the classification of mental disorders.
– It is used in the United States and in varying
degrees around the world, by clinicians,
researchers, psychiatric drug regulation agencies,
health insurance companies, pharmaceutical
companies, and policy makers.
• The DSM has attracted controversy and
criticism as well as praise.
– There have been five revisions since it was first
published in 1952, gradually including more mental
disorders
• ADD was included in the last revision
– some disorders have been removed and are no
longer considered to be mental disorders
– The DSM V will be completed in the next couple of
years
• Latest controversies center around giving out too many
diagnoses and too many medications
Tourette Syndrome: An example of
a disorder in the DSM IV
• Tourette's is one of several tic disorders, which are
classified by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders
• Tourette's is diagnosed when multiple motor
(movement) tics, and at least one phonic (vocal) tic,
are present for more than a year.
• Although Tourette's is a more severe type of tic
disorder (on the spectrum of tic disorders), most cases
are mild. The severity of symptoms varies widely
among people with Tourette's, and mild cases may be
undetected.
Using the DSM IV
• Many mental health professionals use the
manual to determine and help communicate a
patient's diagnosis after an evaluation
• hospitals, clinics, and insurance companies in
the US also generally require a 'five axis' DSM
diagnosis of all the patients treated
• The DSM can be used clinically in this way, and
also to categorize patients using diagnostic
criteria for research purposes.